The International 2017 saw 107 different heroes picked across the entire event, 109 were picked or banned. These are record breaking numbers, records set by the event just the year before, at TI6.
With a meta so diverse where nearly all 112 available heroes seem situational enough to be picked, one can’t help but wonder what has to be wrong with the heroes that haven’t been considered even once.

Last year, the forgotten heroes of TI6 were the likes of Leshrac, Bloodseeker, Lina and Visage, all of which have been buffed since then and have seen much more play as well. That means, the ignored heroes from TI7 may have a couple of buffs ahead of them.

The International 2017 was a blast. Throughout the tournament we had it all: megacreep comebacks, ultra-aggressive fast-paced games and some extremely close prolonged standoffs that kept us on our heels, all courtesy of a well balanced TI patch. There is absolutely no denying that we got a lot of very varied and exciting Dota that deserves a closer look.

After dropping down to the lower bracket early in the tournament, Team Liquid defeated opponent after opponent—the longest run through the lower bracket in TI history—and rose back to sweep Newbee in the grand finals. With TI7 breaking another prize pool record at $24.6 million dollars, Liquid is set to take home $10.8 million.

Only three teams remain as TI 7 leads into its final day. Liquid made it to the top 3 in a tournament that has been dominated by Chinese teams, who will end the tournament with 4 out of the top 6 spots. Newbee has a chance to become TI's first two-time champions. Dota fans saw their hero, Dendi, fall to a bot. And Valve introduced two new heroes, Sylph and a Zorro Pangolin.

Three elimination matches, with CIS and EU pitted against each other in one branch of the lower bracket and OG taking on LGD in the other. Only five teams remain in the tournament in the aftermath of Day 4. Chinese teams show absolute dominance, taking four out of five spots in the bracket. Team Liquid is the last hope of the Western Dota.

SEA is out, NA is out and now Dota went back to its roots with EU and CIS battling it out on the big stage. Only 8 teams remain, with China once again showing dominant performance. However not all hope is lost for the West.

Day 2 of the main event saw the rise of CIS Dota as both Virtus.pro and Team Empire won their series, edging out potential title contenders. In the meantime, two European teams faced off against one another and TNC is set to face OG in the lower bracket yet again. As a big reveal, Valve announced the release of a new Dota 2 themed card game.

The International 2017 has finally opened its door at Key Arena and like previous years, 4 teams had to bid farewell at the end of the day. The group stage set the pace with 106 different heroes picked, making this event the most diverse yet. With numerous big names, such as OG and Secret, in the lower bracket, day 1 looked to be a very promising one.

To say that the group stage results were unpredictable would be an understatement. OG and Team Secret starting playoffs in the lower bracket, Fnatic not getting to the main event and four out of five Chinese teams starting in the upper bracket. The TI7 main event promises to be exciting.

The International 2017 has so far been a stellar example at how diverse the current patch is. What began last year has remained a trend until this year. Day 2 of last year’s International boasted 88 out of 110 heroes picked, but this year has seen 100 out of 112 heroes picked so far. Additionally, 105 heroes have been picked or banned already as well, tying the record set by TI6 who had this exact number after the entire event.

We’re rounding up our TI Preview this past week with the six invited teams: Virtus.Pro, Evil Geniuses, OG, Invictus Gaming, Team Liquid, and Newbee. Three of them have a chance of being TI's first, two-time champions.

After covering the South-East Asian and the Americas regions, it is time to take a look at Europe, CIS and China. This year is the first year that CIS (and South-America) receive a direct qualification spot, which is why the European qualifier was a bit underwhelming on paper. A lot of the teams weren't as established as a lot of names and orgs were now forced into the CIS qualifier. Both regions still delivered exciting games and match-ups, most notably the 140 minutes long game between Empire and Vega Squadron. Europe was also the region with the qualifier's biggest upset as Planet Dog (now HellRaisers) managed to qualify.

In the east, China had three spots for teams to fight over. All eyes were on the likes of EHOME or Vici Gaming to perform as veterans such as Hao or ChuaN stepped back onto the plate or as former Wings Gaming members looked to defend their title. Unfortunately though, no Ti6 champion will be able to defend their title, but China may have a title contestant among their qualifier winners with strong performances from the likes of LGD.

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